The ElectroUteroGraph: A Novel Tool for Assessing Uterine Contractions of Non-Pregnant Women.

Uterine contractility is known to play significant role in women's health. Ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging have been used for assessing uterine peristalsis, however they lack practicality, objectivity, and cost-effectiveness. In this paper, the ElectroUteroGraph (EUG) and novel electrodes are introduced, to cover the unmet need of practical intrauterine contractility assessment.

The first family of application-specific integrated circuits for programmable and reconfigurable metasurfaces.

Reconfigurable metasurfaces are man-made surfaces, which consist of sub-wavelength periodic elements-meta-atoms-that can be reconfigured to manipulate incoming electromagnetic waves. However, reconfigurable metasurfaces developed to-date, have limitations in terms of loading impedance range, reconfiguration delay and power consumption. Also, these systems are costly and they require bulky electronics and complex control circuits, which makes them unattractive for commercial use.

Towards optimization of plant cell detection in suspensions using impedance-based analyses and the unified equivalent circuit model.

An improved approach for comparative study of plant cells for long term and continuous monitoring using electrical impedance spectroscopy is demonstrated for tomato and tobacco plant cells (MSK8 and BY2) in suspensions. This approach is based on the locations and magnitudes of defining features in the impedance spectra of the recently reported unified equivalent circuit model. The ultra-wide range (4 Hz to 20 GHz) impedance spectra of the cell lines were measured using custom probes, and were analyzed using the unified equivalent circuit model, highlighting significant negative phase peaks in the ~ 1 kHz to ~ 10 MHz range.

Electrical impedance spectroscopy of plant cells in aqueous buffer media over a wide frequency range of 4 Hz to 20 GHz.

Electrical impedance spectroscopy was performed on suspensions of plant cells in aqueous buffer media over a wide frequency range of 4 Hz to 20 GHz. Custom probes were designed, manufactured, and used for these investigations. Experiments were performed with a custom-made parallel plate probe and impedance analysers in the low-frequency range (4 Hz to 5 MHz), with a custom-made coaxial airline probe and a vector network analyser in the mid-frequency range (100 kHz to 3 GHz), and with a commercial open-ended probe and a vector network analyser in the high-frequency range (200 MHz to 20 GHz).

Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy of plant cells in aqueous biological buffer solutions and their modelling using a unified electrical equivalent circuit over a wide frequency range: 4Hz to 20 GHz.

A simple, ultra-wide frequency range, equivalent circuit for plant cell suspensions is presented. The model incorporates both the interfacial interactions of the suspension with the electrode, dominant at low frequencies, and the molecule and cell polarization mechanisms dominant at higher frequencies. Such model is useful for plant cell characterization allowing a single set of parameters over >9 orders of magnitude, whilst allows electronic simulations over the whole frequency range using a single model, simplifying the design of electronic systems of integrated plant cell sensors.

High-frequency, dielectric spectroscopy for the detection of electrophysiological/biophysical differences in different bacteria types and concentrations.

This paper describes a novel technique to quantify and identify bacterial cultures of Bacillus Subtilis (2.10-1.30 × 10 CFU mL) and Escherichia Coli (1.

Small bowel tumours: update in diagnosis and management.

Purpose Of Review: The aim of this study was to summarize the role of recently developed diagnostic techniques in the diagnosis and management of patients with small bowel tumours (SBTs).

Recent Findings: Recent studies show that the overall SBT incidence is increasing. The introduction of small bowel dedicated diagnostic tools [i.

Neoplastic Diseases of the Small Bowel.

The incidence of small bowel tumors is increasing over time. Until recently, their diagnosis was delayed and it was often reached only at the time of surgery. New diagnostic tools, such as capsule endoscopy, device-assisted enteroscopy, and dedicated small bowel cross-sectional imaging techniques, have been introduced recently in clinical practice.

Sound Source Localization through 8 MEMS Microphones Array Using a Sand-Scorpion-Inspired Spiking Neural Network.

Sand-scorpions and many other arachnids perceive their environment by using their feet to sense ground waves. They are able to determine amplitudes the size of an atom and locate the acoustic stimuli with an accuracy of within 13° based on their neuronal anatomy. We present here a prototype sound source localization system, inspired from this impressive performance.

Wearable, multimodal, vitals acquisition unit for intelligent field triage.

In this Letter, the authors describe the characterisation design and development of the authors' wearable, multimodal vitals acquisition unit for intelligent field triage. The unit is able to record the standard electrocardiogram, blood oxygen and body temperature parameters and also has the unique capability to record up to eight custom designed acoustic streams for heart and lung sound auscultation. These acquisition channels are highly synchronised to fully maintain the time correlation of the signals.

An ingestible, NIR-fluorometric, cancer-screening capsule.

Asymptomatic, early-stage, cancer detection is a problem in the small intestine, that is largely inaccessible. This paper presents a cost-effective screening capsule prototype, which is able to detect infrared (IR) fluorescence emitted by indocyanine green (ICG) fluorophore dye. The presented mixed-signal system has a small size, consumes little power and works as a high-sensitivity fluorometer that records fluorescence levels throughout the small intestine, rather than collecting images that need labour intensive video analysis.

Infrared Fluorescence-Based Cancer Screening Capsule for the Small Intestine.

Infrared fluorescence endoscopy (IRFE), in conjunction with an infrared fluorescent-labelling contrast agent, is a well known technique used for efficient early-stage cancer detection. In this paper we present a cost-effective (< $500) screening capsule prototype, which is able to detect infrared (IR) fluorescence emitted by indocyanine green (ICG) fluorophore dye. Rather than image, the capsule works as a high-sensitivity fluorometer that records fluorescence levels throughout the small intestine.

Towards a fluoroscopic cancer screening capsule for the small intestine.

Efficient microcancer detection in the small intestine can be realised by infrared fluorescence endoscopy (IRFE). The affected areas can be visualised through that technique in conjunction with an infrared fluorescent-labeling contrast agent, which is selectively uptaken by cancerous cells. In this paper we present a screening capsule prototype that is able to measure IR fluorescence levels emitted by fluorophore indocyanine green (ICG) of different concentrations.

Bio-inspired micro-fluidic angular-rate sensor for vestibular prostheses.

This paper presents an alternative approach for angular-rate sensing based on the way that the natural vestibular semicircular canals operate, whereby the inertial mass of a fluid is used to deform a sensing structure upon rotation. The presented gyro has been fabricated in a commercially available MEMS process, which allows for microfluidic channels to be implemented in etched glass layers, which sandwich a bulk-micromachined silicon substrate, containing the sensing structures. Measured results obtained from a proof-of-concept device indicate an angular rate sensitivity of less than 1 °/s, which is similar to that of the natural vestibular system.

Do audio-visual motion cues promote segregation of auditory streams?

An audio-visual experiment using moving sound sources was designed to investigate whether the analysis of auditory scenes is modulated by synchronous presentation of visual information. Listeners were presented with an alternating sequence of two pure tones delivered by two separate sound sources. In different conditions, the two sound sources were either stationary or moving on random trajectories around the listener.

Multimodal integration of micro-Doppler sonar and auditory signals for behavior classification with convolutional networks.

The ability to recognize the behavior of individuals is of great interest in the general field of safety (e.g. building security, crowd control, transport analysis, independent living for the elderly).

Design of silicon brains in the nano-CMOS era: spiking neurons, learning synapses and neural architecture optimization.

We present a design framework for neuromorphic architectures in the nano-CMOS era. Our approach to the design of spiking neurons and STDP learning circuits relies on parallel computational structures where neurons are abstracted as digital arithmetic logic units and communication processors. Using this approach, we have developed arrays of silicon neurons that scale to millions of neurons in a single state-of-the-art Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).

Neural network-based classification of anesthesia/awareness using Granger causality features.

This article investigates the signal processing part of a future system for monitoring awareness during surgery. The system uses features from the patients' electrical brain activity (EEG) to discriminate between "anesthesia" and "awareness." We investigate the use of a neural network classifier and Granger causality (GC) features for this purpose.

EEG-based automatic classification of 'awake' versus 'anesthetized' state in general anesthesia using Granger causality.

Background: General anesthesia is a reversible state of unconsciousness and depression of reflexes to afferent stimuli induced by administration of a "cocktail" of chemical agents. The multi-component nature of general anesthesia complicates the identification of the precise mechanisms by which anesthetics disrupt consciousness. Devices that monitor the depth of anesthesia are an important aide for the anesthetist.